Cigarette tip



Sept. 5, 1939.

Fig.

Fig. 5

c B. STRAUCH 2,171,770

Patented Sept. 5, 1939 CIGARETTE m Clauss Burkart Strauch, New York, N. Y., assignor to .Hartford-Empire Company, Hartford, Court, a corporation of Delaware Application April 20, 1937, Serial No. 138,024

1 Claim.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application Serial No. 56,904 filed Dec. 31, 1935, now Patent No. 2,097,846, and relates to improvements in cigarette tips adapted to prevent contact between the mouth and a cigarette and to purify the smoke.

Heretofore cigarette tips have been devised consisting of constructions using a metal, horn. plastics, cardboard or combinations of those and other materials. Such structures have an undesirable appearance in use, are apt to cause damage to the teeth in view of the inherent stifiness of the material, are expensive thus necessitating repeated use which is objectionable from medical standpoint as well as from the point of view of the user and are of such length and weight-as to require considerable efiort to hold the tip in place.

In such distances, in which cigarette tips were devised to include a filtering means, the cost of tips and filters necessitated repeated use of the same filter, rendering the purification of the smoke uneven and increasingly less effective, adding a sharp taste to the smoke with each successive cigarette smoked, and even reversing the initial filtering effect after repeated use.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide a cigarette tip made of unofiensive, smooth, and preferably transparent material, which is semifiexible and elastic which may be made so cheaply and simply that it need be used only once; and which is of so little weight that it can be held in the mouth for a substantial time without discomfort.

While all tips of the prior art, by reasons of their structure and if used put once, purify cigarette smoke to some minor extent by a cooling and condensing action upon the smoke, it is an essential part of my invention to. provide a special filter within my tips, capable of absorbing and/or adsorbing and/or otherwise filtering nicotine, and other undesirable or obnoxious constituents of the smoke. The tips including the filtering means are preferably also to be discarded, together with the stub of the cigarette, after each smoke.

Heretofore filters have been devised consisting of perforated cartridges containing iron hydroxide, silica-gel, carbon or other adsorbent materials; of cotton, plain, or frequently impregnated with biting, irritating, or dusty chemicals; and of loosely wound paper, having a very low filtering eiiect. The'filters were frequently constructed as exchangeable units adapted for insertion into bulky holders, and subject to all disadvantages of repeated use and inconvenience enumerated above. Other filters were constructed as part of the cigarette, eliminating repeated use, but having other disadvantages due to the limitations connected with the insuflicient space, weak sup- 5 port, an open end, being related to the shape of the cigarette, and being related to and confined by the cigarette manufacturing process.

My invention, of a low cost, non-adsorbent, light weight, ela tic, transparent cigarette tip, to 10 be used for one /s oke only, makes positive filters as part of these tips possible. Such filters are well supported in their place and maintained compressed to a definite extent; have an ample space outside of the body of the cigarette; are 15 held by such shape as to prevent contact between the filter and the mouth; are of low cost and designed for one smoke only; are of a selected fibrous material, optionally treated with selective, absorbing and/or adsorbing chemicals, not dusty, not biting and not removable by water; and are aided by all advantages of the tips made according "to my invention, the transparency of the outer shells permitting easy inspection of the filtering effect during smoking.

With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

Fig. 1 is an enlarged vertical se'ctional view of a preferred form of the cigarette tip made according to my invention, and consisting of an outer shell only.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a preferred form of the outer shell of a cigarette tip complemented by a filter.

- Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the outer shell of the tip of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the outer shell complemented by a filter.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a preferred form of the lower end of a tip and filter, shown on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the preferred form of the lower end of the outer shell of a tip, shown on the same scale as Fig. 5.

In the drawing, 7 designates the outer shell of a cigarette tip according to my invention. This tip consists substantially of a cone'or tube having an entrance 8 and an exit 9, the latter in its preferred form being surrounded by extra perforations Ill. The cone has in its preferred form a collar II.

R represents an annular lip provided at the lower end of the tip and extending into thebore of the shell. The lip l2 supports a filter it, of adsorbent material which is inserted into the shell and kept in place and under slight, even compression by the side walls of the shell I. The fibers of the material of the filter l3 are preferably arranged substantially parallel with each other and with the axis of the shell I.

In Fig. 5, l4 represents the. upper free end of the a'nnular lip I2, engaging the filter l3, and IS the entranceof this lip, in which the perfora-' tions- III are located so as not to come in contact with the mouth. The arrows indicate the fiow of the smoke, when the tip is used for smoking.

The shell I as illustrated in the figures may be constructed of waxed paper, of cloth impregnated with any thermoplastic material such as shellac or paraffin, of metal foil or any other material which can be formed, molded or pleated into a thin-walled, cone shaped shell.

It is part of my invention to produce cigarette tips as described from transparent organic plastic materials by pressing and pleating the cone on dies and with or without help of heat. Regenerated cellulose or other cellulosic plastic materials used in several layers is easily pressed and pleated between cold or hot dies to cup shape and will keep its shape aided by the insertion of the filter. The use of several layers permits the obtaining of attractive color effects and the utilization of the advantages of regenerated cellulose as well as of the cellulose esters.

I prefer, however, to carry my invention out of forming the tips from thermoplastic material Serial No. 56,905, filed Dec. 31, 1935. In this procuse is made possible.

ess the thermoplastic material, supplied in sheets or rolls of paper to thin cardboard thickness, is guided through a heater, while held against deformation, and quickly moved to cooler dies which form thetips and cool them at the same time. The formed tips are guided further to perforatihg dies while still an integral part of the original strip to produce the holes 9 and ID, are optionally supplied with the filter l3 in a subsequent station, and finally blanked out on the outer circumference of the collar I as finished units from thestrip. For manufacture of cigarette tips, the application of glue, as described in said application, Serial No. 56,905, can be omitted, and the optional filter is preferably inserted from a parallel fibered coil of cotton but cutting the proper length of each filter and inserting the same into each formed and perforated tip.

The finished shells of my cigarette tips, made as here described, represent dainty, elongated, tubular cups, each of an approximate length of l" and generally weighing about 1 6 of a gram. These shells are of smooth surface, elastic, easily obtained transparent, and manufactured as described at such low cost, that a sanitary single The shells may be formed from colored material or first formed and then dyed in any suitable manner.

The shells have the purpose of engaging one end of the cigarette, of providing an elastic and smooth mouthpiece and to give form and-shape to the filter, when supplied.

The collar ll serves the purpose of facilitating the adaption to the cigarette. It is preferably enforced by; rounding its free edge. 1 Without departing from the principle'of my invention, the tips may alsobe formed without a collar or with a smaller collar and may be longer or shorter.

The annular lip I 2 serves the purpose of preventing the cigarettes in unfilled tips or the filters l3 in filled tips from descending into the small ends of the shells and coming into contact with the mouth. The reenforced section It is provided at the end of the lip portion I2 the better to accomplish this purpose. The lip I2 may be shorter, be built as a bridge, or be of any desired shape, without departing from the principle of my invention.

The perforations l serve the purpose of permitting the drawing ofsmoke from the whole diameter'of the cigarette in plain tips and from the whole diameter of the filter in.filtered tips. The perforations are preferably located so as not to come into contact with the mouth, as shown clearly in Fig. 5. My invention includes also the forming .of these perforations ID as slots of the lip H, the provision of more or less than four in number, and/or the placing of them differently.

It is an essential part of my invention to provide a filter as part of my cigarette tips, which will absorb and/or adsorb nicotine and other undesired .constituents of the cigarette smoke without impairing its fiavor. I prefer to use cotton as the fibrous material for constructing'my filters, and have found that cotton, which is not processed except for mechanical cleaning or little processed only and still containing at least a part of the natural fatty substances such as virgin cotton or the unbleached cotton of the trade is superior to processed and so-called absorbent cotton which probably will absorb'moisture rather than the other constituents of the smoke.

I found further, that a filter containing a small but compressed amount of cotton would be as effective as a filter containing a large amount of loose cotton, and have the advantage of not impairing the fiavor. For such a filter it is necessary to control carefully the degree of compression by checking the negative pressure necessary to draw smoke through the filter and to keep the compression of the fibers constant so as not to make the smoking through the filter tips uncomfortable and difiicult. A sucking effort equal to a negative pressure of approximately 20 cm. water is still comfortable and well able to overcome the resistance of a filter made according to my invention. I have found furthermore, that my tips lend themselves very well to the holding of a predetermined amount of cotton at a constant rate of compression when the cotton is composed of parallel fibers arranged parallel to the axis of the outer shell. I prefer therefore to form the filters of the cigarette tips made according to my invention from cotton, preferably little or not chemically processed, arranged with the fibers parallel and held under a slight compression by the walls of the lower halves of the outer shells.

In the first portion of this specification, I have set forth the advantages of the invention over the bearing against the inner end of said lip, and one or more apertures formed in the side of said lip inwardly or the adjacent end of, said shell and so positioned as to permit smoke to be drawn from a cigarette by the user throughout substan- 5 tially the entire cross-sectional area of said filter.

CLAUSS BURKART STRAUCH. 

